Saving money on car insurance is never as easy as the commercials claim it is, and the savings are never as large as they promise, but that doesn't mean it's impossible to save anything. If you wait six months between farming quotes, insurance companies will consider you a "new" or "not returning" customer, and offer you better promotional rates.

This tip comes from Daniel at Sweating the Big Stuff, who explains that he's worked at a large insurance company in the past, and while the savings from using this technique aren't huge (he saved about $43 every six months - little more than $7/mo), they're something:

Knowing from my previous job at a large insurance company that users who request quotes more than 6 months apart will be offered better rates, I waiting more than 6 months from my last request and went online to see how much I could save. It turns out that for comparable insurance (actually, slightly more coverage), I am able to save $43 over the 6 month term.

He also goes on to explain that if an insurance company claims to be able to save you hundreds of dollars on insurance, they're probably just going to under-insure you by offering less coverage than you're used to having, or by jacking up your deductible. Very few people actually save hundreds just by switching insurance companies. Still, you can save a few bucks here or there, you just have to time your shopping right.